Texans never back down from a fight — including protecting our border.
This challenge involves not only ruthless Mexican drug cartels wresting operational control of the border or the record surge in illegal immigration.
Most profoundly, this challenge is driven by a Biden administration intent on impeding our efforts to secure the border and keep Texans safe.
President Biden’s Department of Justice sued the state of Texas last month for our recent efforts to deter and repel migrants from making the dangerous — and often deadly — illegal crossing through the Rio Grande waterway into Texas by deploying floating marine barriers.
Biden is clearly more concerned with preventing Texas from protecting our sovereignty than stopping transnational criminals from exploiting his border crisis for profit or discouraging migrants from risking their lives to enter America illegally.
He should be sending us a thank-you note, not a lawsuit.
We are prepared to take this legal battle to the United States Supreme Court to make clear that Texas — as well as other states — has full authority to secure the border.
In accordance with the US Constitution, as commander in chief of Texas’ militia I have asserted our state’s sovereign interest to protect our borders.
Because Biden refuses to enforce the immigration laws Congress already has on the books, Texas will use every strategy to deny illegal entry.
Long before Texas deployed these border barriers, the United Nations declared the US-Mexico border the deadliest land crossing in the world.
Biden’s shameless disregard for America’s national security has emboldened Mexican drug cartels and transnational criminals like never before, brazenly endangering both American citizens and migrants.
Who could forget the tragedy last summer, when 53 migrants died inside a sweltering tractor-trailer during a human smuggling attempt near San Antonio?
More than 850 migrants tragically died on US soil last year in attempted illegal border crossings. All these deaths are on President Biden’s hands.
As countless migrants are killed, exploited or trafficked, more than 1.5 million known gotaways have slipped into the country illegally under Biden’s watch, including a record number of suspected terrorists entering.
Since I launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021 to fill in the dangerous gaps Biden’s reckless policies created, our historic border-security mission has apprehended more than 401,000 illegal immigrants, arrested more than 32,000 criminals and seized more than 422 million lethal doses of fentanyl — more than enough to kill every man, woman and child in America.
Transnational criminal organizations continue to seek out new insidious methods to operate multibillion-dollar smuggling enterprises across our southern border, but Texas is fighting back.
I recently deployed the floating marine barriers in a stretch of the Rio Grande as part of Texas’ heightened deterrence effort to support the increase in Texas National Guard soldiers and Department of Public Safety troopers patrolling our border. We’ve also added miles of razor wire.
These buoys help deter illegal river crossings, forcing migrants to use one of Texas’ 29 international bridges where they can seek asylum. None of them has drowned on a bridge.
Instead of safeguarding the sovereignty of our nation, Biden has abandoned his duty to secure the border. So Texas remains the foremost governmental entity in America denying illegal entry into our country.
We are the only one standing up to the ruthless Mexican drug cartels waging war for control of our border.
And with $9.8 billion of Texas taxpayer dollars allocated for border security, the state is the only actor sending the message our southern border is not open.
The Biden administration has left border states like Texas to fend for themselves amid the escalating crisis and is now misapplying some obscure statute to keep Texas from using the marine barriers to deter more illegal border crossings into our state.
But let me be clear: We will continue to deploy every lawful tool and strategy to protect Texans.
President Biden, Border Czar Kamala Harris and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have demonstrated how uninformed and unconcerned they are about the chaos their administration has unleashed along America’s southern border.
Critics of Texas’ border security mission have one thing right: The president has a constitutional responsibility to enforce existing federal immigration laws and protect the sovereignty of our homeland and the safety of our citizens.
Until then, Texas will not bow to relentless Mexican cartels or the strongarm tactics of a negligent administration.
Mr. President, Texas will see you in court.
Greg Abbott is governor of Texas.
